Stornoway Diamond Corporation (SWY:TSX), Shear Minerals Ltd. (SRM:TSXV), and BHP Billiton today announced the recovery of high counts of G10 pyrope garnets and kimberlite fragments within a till sample from the Sedna Corridor on the Churchill Diamond Project.
One 20kg till sample (Sample 05PST003) collected near the head of a high-interest kimberlite indicator mineral dispersion train in the Sedna Corridor yielded estimated total grain counts of ~32,500 pyropes, ~11,600 ilmenites and ~7,100 chromites plus additional chrome diopsides and eclogitic garnets (total grain counts were projected from representative sub-samples of the concentrate). Sample concentrates were sorted by both Mineral Services Canada Inc. and the Saskatchewan Research Council. A total of 116 pyropes were sent for microprobe analysis and all were confirmed as being pyrope garnets. Of the 116 pyrope garnets, 27% of the grains are G10 pyropes as defined by Gurney (1984) and display up to 11% Cr2O3. Initial data from the chrome diopside geo-thermometry calculations shows that the sample grains are derived from a cool and potentially favourable mantle geotherm (37mW/m2).
Importantly the oversize fraction of the same sample contained abundant altered kimberlite fragments displaying generally coarse grained textures and hosting rounded pyropes with thick kelyphite rims. Mineral Services Canada Inc. has confirmed that these fragments are kimberlite and show similarities to another piece of kimberlite float discovered in the nearby Josephine River Corridor which also yielded high interest G10 chemistry (see news release dated November 1, 2005). Both kimberlite samples have abundant olivine macrocrysts and phenocrysts in a carbonate dominated groundmass with serpentine, opaques, perovskite, and mica, making them distinctly different from the kimberlites drilled to date on the property.
After a preliminary review of the existing geophysical data, two anomalies have been identified for follow-up with detailed ground magnetics and potentially drilling as soon as weather conditions permit access, estimated at late April. Budgetary meetings for the 2006 field program are currently underway.
In 2005, a total of 1,873 till samples were collected on the Churchill Property in order to infill the sampling density in the core areas and to better define the indicator mineral trains. Since 2000, more than 7,100 surface samples have been collected and processed and more than 55,000 microprobe analyses have been completed. The increased detail from the refined till sample data set will enable the technical team to target subtle geophysical anomalies within the key areas of interest in the 2006 drill program.
The Churchill Diamond Project is comprised of mineral rights to more than 2 million acres located near the community of Rankin Inlet and Chesterfield Inlet in the Kivalliq region of Nunavut. The project is owned by joint venture partners Shear, which has a 51% interest and is the operator, Stornoway (35%) and BHP Billiton (14%). To date Shear and its partners have drilled 41 kimberlites over a wide area on the Churchill and Churchill West projects. The 2006 field program is under the supervision of Jennifer Burgess, P. Geol., a Qualified Person under NI 43-101.
On behalf of the Board
STORNOWAY DIAMOND CORPORATION
/s/ "Eira Thomas"
Eira Thomas
For further information, please contact Nick Thomas at 604-331-2259 or (888) 338-2200
** Website: http://stornowaydiamonds.com/ Email: info@stornowaydiamonds.com **
This news release may contain forward looking statements, being statements which are not historical facts, including, without limitation, statements regarding potential mineralization, exploration results, resource or reserve estimates, anticipated production or results, sales, revenues, costs, "best-efforts" financings or discussions of future plans and objectives. There can be no assurance that such statements will prove accurate. Such statements are necessarily based upon a number of estimates and assumptions that are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and future events to differ materially from those anticipated or projected. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the Company's expectations are in Company documents filed from time to time with the Toronto Stock Exchange and provincial securities regulators, most of which are available at www.sedar.com. The Company disclaims any intention or obligation to revise or update such statements.